Half in the Shadows

Prologue

"Cible acquise," she whispered.

Slow breath in, slow breath out. She focused on her breathing and the man in the crosshairs. She wouldn't shoot until she got the signal. The orders she and the other 2 had been given were simple. Intercept Steve Rogers and whoever was with him; kill on command. She had seen no one else. Her earpiece had been quiet for what seemed like too long. She could kill him quickly and cleanly right now. So, where was the voice demanding her to do so? Her hand moved to her ear to check the device was still in place but before she reached it a woman's voice came through.

"Safety's on..."

Wrong. That voice...that language...this was not one of them. She also knew her safety was in fact off. Movement came from behind her and she turned her head instinctively towards it. Nothing. Suddenly, a tremendous force struck her from behind knocking the air out of her and sending her to the ground. Her rifle skidded out of reach and perilously close to the edge of the rooftop. She flipped over quickly to face her assailant. A hulking man stood before her and her eyes traveled to his left arm. It was entirely metal. The Winter Soldier. She had been told who he was and knew he might be one of her targets today.

She sprang back to her feet.

"Soldat d'Hiver," she said.

"Stand down," he ordered.

She stared into his eyes calculating her next move. She backed towards her gun and he was immediately on her, tackling her to the ground. But it was in her grip. He aimed for it but she was quicker, his metal fingers cracking the cement and sending small pieces flying as she twisted off of her side painfully under his weight before slamming the butt of the rifle into his jaw. The man barely reacted and his metal hand reached for her throat. She lifted her knee into his groin with as much power as she could muster and he froze, letting out a pained sound. She flung her weight right and reversed their position. Straddling him she aimed the barrel at his face, her finger on the trigger. She pulled but was met with resistance. In the chaos, the safety had been flipped on. He raised his hand. Metal against metal sounded as he bent the barrel, rendering it useless. She let go of the gun and reached backwards for the knife in her boot and then...everything went black.

________

"A little warning would be nice next time," Bucky grunted. "You're lucky I didn't have my arm on her."

"You're just lucky I'm a great shot," Natasha smirked, walking over.

She bent down and removed the small disc from the woman's back like she was picking a dandelion out of the grass, while he was still scared to move an inch. 15,000 volts of electricity wouldn't kill him but would most likely fry the robotics in his left arm. While he hated the thing he still enjoyed the functionality it allowed him.

"Building's clear," Steve's voice sounded over their radios.

"Rooftop's clear," Natasha replied, finger on her earpiece.

He rolled the woman's body onto the cement and rubbed his jaw. She had hit him hard enough to cause swelling and that was a rare occurrence thanks to HYDRA.

"Who are they?" Bucky asked, rising to his feet.

"VEIL," Steve said approaching from the stairway. "HYDRA break off, well one of them at least. Likely guarding what we came for. Did this one say anything ?The other two weren't very interested in talking."

"She recognized me," Bucky said, looking towards Steve. "Soldat d'Hiver. Winter Soldier in French. They knew we'd be here."

"French? That's new," Natasha said.

A humming sound came from above but before he could look, Sam landed gracefully besides him, metal wings tucking in almost naturally.

"Weapons are on the 4th floor, no others inside," he told them.

Redwing, Sam's drone, had been extremely useful, though he would never let Sam know that. Following the events two months ago, they had been more than shorthanded. But, Redwing could fight and had been fitted with other technologies that made things less challenging such as seeing through walls and getting enemy headcounts. Another humming sound and Bucky ducked just in time to avoid the drone's right wing. It did a flip and stopped to hover right next to Sam who grinned. He had no doubt that Sam had purposefully programmed Redwing to piss him off specifically.

"Alright, let's-" Steve began and stopped, his eyes focused on something outside of the group.

The others followed his gaze. The woman, who should have been dead, had started moving. Her hand reached for the mask covering her nose and mouth and struggled to remove it as if all the power had been drained from her body. Steve stepped towards her and knelt down. He unclipped the strap and lifted the mask away.

"Help me, please," she breathed. "Madeline Foster. My name is Madeline Foster. Please..."

Her eyes rolled back into her head and she was quiet again, tears falling from her closed eyes.

The normal human body couldn't have withstood the amount of electricity that she had taken. And her voice...she spoke English, not a single suggestion of French in the accent either. It seemed something strange was transpiring. Steve glanced back at the others, a look of confusion on his face.

Natasha pulled the phone from her pocket and dialed.

"GIve me anything you have on Madeline Foster," she urged.